Dear colleagues,

Organisms carrying novel genes inserted with the use of recombinant DNA techniques have existed since the early 1970s. Environmental releases of products of GM technology began in the late 1970s. Field trials with GM plants started in the mid-1980s under strict regulatory scrutiny and quickly increased into the hundreds by the end of that decade. Today, thousands of environmental releases around the world of a wide range of different GMOs provide a substantial source of scientific data allowing a proper and critical evaluation of the environmental and health safety of GMOs.

To move beyond risk perception, a multi-disciplinary approach is required that can provide a sound and solid basis for safety assessment. Isolated findings need to be put in perspective in order to understand their relevance. This has to happen against a background of different perspectives and realizing that different parts of the world are at different stages of formulating their way of working with GMOs.

A broad and diverse membership, of which the unifying element is a scientific approach, is of high importance to ISBR. This diversity, ensuring that academia, developers, assessors and regulators can see their interests covered by our activities, is unique. ISBR is committed to expand this platform to bring people who share a genuine interest in biosafety research together and to promote excellent science leading to well-founded safety assessments by exchanging ideas in a respectful manner. 

Interaction with and between members becomes even more important in today’s world. Our symposia have proven to be great opportunities for networking. More opportunities to identify experts and to stay appraised of the latest developments are offered. With the well recognized EBR Journal we can channel results to the broader scientific and regulatory community.

If you share our interest in discerning and discussing the science underlying the safety evaluation of genetically modified plants, animals and microbes, I invite you to join the ISBR.

Bao-Rong Lu

(President of ISBR)

Click here to open the online membership application form